The Alternate Adventures of Harry Potter and Such
by AshleyAnn xx
Summary: The world of magic is very proud of it's traditions. 'And so why not add a new one' thought Dumbledore when he decided to add a new twist to everyday life at Hogwarts. Students will face obstacles of many sorts as they search for the ultimate reward.
1. The Alternate Adventure

I do not intend to lead you to believe that I own Harry Potter, in fact I intend for you to believe quite the opposite; I adore it, J. K. Rowling, and all of those involved.

**Preface:**

As we all know Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a brilliant, clever wizard with uncanny wisdom and sophistication.

And as we all know, he's a bit of a nutter.

While his plethora of knowledge and experience is undeniable, his actions cause all of those around him, to believe that he may be slightly cracked.

In short; he's a mad hatter, but wizards of all kinds adore him, all the same. After all, the line between crazy and genius is very thin. Very, very thin. And on this particular January night, that line seemed practically transparent.

This night was frigid; window panes were frozen over to the point where every window throughout the castle appeared to be nothing but a solid piece of ice, the rusted metal suits of armor adorning the halls could be caught shivering at any given moment, and the roof of the castle was blanketed in so much snow, that it seemed quite miraculous the whole structure didn't just collapse. But regardless of the vicious weather, the students of Hogwarts slept well in their grand beds, spaced evenly around a blazing fire, and swaddled in their thick blankets.

Well at least they did for a while. For suddenly loud knocks and bangs could be heard throughout the first floor, and especially near the kitchens waking the entire gaggle of Hufflepulls who rested there. And then, in the next instant, as if the knocker had transported in some magical way, the same banging could be heard within the level under the kitchens, where the Slytherins slept. From outside the Slytherin dormitory, you could barely hear the commotion of teenage boys and girl awaking in the middle of night, over the loud banging sounds which still vibrated around the dungeon, shaking the glass window panes within the common room and threatening to spill the Black Lake in amongst the students, all dressed in green. And in case this was not enough, the banging then proceeded to echo its way up the magnificent staircases all the way to the seventh floor towers. First intruding upon the dozing Ravenclaw, and then lastly the Gryffindors.

Once the entire student body was sufficiently woken and confused, a loud announcement began, at an almost appalling volume. It was as if a bullhorn had been attached to speakers, and then the speakers had been placed strategically throughout the castle. The announcement went something like this:

'**Morning, Dear Student. (At the simply mention of the word 'morning,' many students peered out of the nearest window, and saw that indeed, there were faint lines of pink spread throughout the sky which hinted at the near arrival of morning, but this fact did not help suppress the eye rolls, and pouts that arrived with the sound of their Headmaster's voice, so early, and unwelcome, in the morning.) While many of you, I'm sure, are desperate to close your eyes, and try to salvage the last few hours of near darkness, I urge you to give me your full attention. Here at Hogwarts, we have decided to create a new tradition. It will take place in the form of a game; a scavenger hunt, of sorts. But its purpose is far greater than any game you've played before. This game will test your bravery, it will test you wisdom, your loyalty, and your cunningness; all of the qualities that make a great wizard, and the bases of our housing system. Now, like all games, this one will have a winner. Whichever student is first to discover all of the mysteries, and complete the hunt I have fabricated, will win a prize of incomparable worth, and great power. Good luck, for those of you who choose to participate, and challenge yourself, and for those of you who raise your nose at this offer, shame on you. Here is one hint before I leave you, 'the best place to start is the beginning.'**

And then the entire castle was silent.

This idea came to me, a few nights ago, and I just could resist. At first, I had intended for this piece to be nothing more than a one shot, but I decided to try my hand at a longer story, and so this tale will come in chapters, each chapter a new and exciting part of Dumbledore's little game, and each discovered by a different Hogwarts student – Harry, Luna, Draco, Ginny, Ron, Fred and George, ect.

I hope to have the first chapter, which will focus – quite predictably – on Harry himself, within the next few days. So please add this story to your alerts.

Comments are always greatly appreciated.

**And I will more the gladly take any ideas that you may have regarding this story in particular, but also any other story that may be entertained in the future.**

Thank you for reading.

Ashley Ann xx.


	2. Getting started sort of

**I do not intend to lead you to believe that I own Harry Potter, in fact I intend for you to believe quite the opposite; I adore it, J. K. Rowling.**

**Chapter One:**

Harry Potter lay in his bed, still not completely aware of what had just happened.

Had it really?

The muted sounds of an arousing set of teenage boys told Harry that yes, it had.

Ron Weasley was the first to make any audible sound.

"Bloody hell." He grumbled from his bed, directly adjacent to Harry's. "What was he on about?" Ron asked, peering around the room as if expecting one of his chamber mates to have an answer. Non of them did however. Neville, Seamus, and Dean all seemed quite as confused as Harry and Ron obviously felt.

There was a long period of silence.

"I don't know, but I'm going back to bed." Said a grumpy Seamus before disappearing under the stark burgandy of his bed coverings.

"Yeah me too," agreed Dean, which left Ron, Neville, and Harry to stare at eachother in the darkness, trying to wrap their minds around the recent event.

Outside the room a commotion could be heard, apparently Dumbledore's dramatic announcement had pulled sleeping Gryffindors out of their beds, and assembled them in the common room. Chairs seemed to be scraping across the hard wood floor, and loud whispers carried to Harry's ears.  
There was only one thing to do.

Harry stood slowly up from his bed, placed his feet into the puffy red fabric of his slippers, and began to pace across the carpeted floor, making scuffing sounds as he went.

"Where are you going mate?" Ron's voice asked, a bit ignorantly through the darkness. Harry decided to ignore him. But that, of course, didn't work. Ron came jogging up from behind, and caught stride with the slow moving Harry long before he had even reached the bottom step of the curved staircase that let into the warm glow of the common room.

The space was packed. It seemed that Dean and Seamus had been amongst only a few Gryffindors who had decided to wrestle themselves back to sleep after Dumbledore's booming announcement. Every possible seat was occupied and people had began taking to gathering in circles on the dusty floor to discuss.

Hermione, as predicted was placed near the edge of the fire place, as far away from everyone else as possible, with a rather large leather bound book placed upon her crossed legs.

Harry circled through the growing crowd, forcing his way over to her, navigating through the dozens, and dozens of bodies traipsed in every possible direction with Ron close on his tail.

"'Morning Hermione." Harry greeted, squeezing himself in beside her on the floor.

"Oh, hi Harry. Ron." She said, nodding to each in turn. "It's fascinating, don't you think?" Hermione said, turning her attention back to the book that she was cradling with a bit of unnecessary care.

"Erm, sure." Ron said, finding a place to set as well, while nearly knocking a wizards chess board off of a near by table.

"It is, really. Something like this hasn't happened in ages."

"But it has in before?"

"Well, of course." Hermione responded in that unnecessarily cocky voice of hers.

"It's tradition for each headmaster of Hogwarts to create a scavenger hunt, of sorts. In the end revealing a secret or 'treasure' which he views as important."

The dumbfounded expression on Ron's face was priceless. Hermione glanced in his direction, but looked quickly away and down at her book, apparently not impressed.

"But it hasn't happened in generations," she continued. "Not since-"

"Voldemort was a student." Harry finished for her, and she nodded.

"Apparently, Riddle won the challenge his year."

"I wonder what the prize was."

Hermione just shrugged.

"But whenever it was must have scared enough people to discontinue to event. There hasn't been a Headmasters Challenge since 1944. Tom Riddle's seventh year."

It seemed as if Dumbledore's announcement had fueled the students with a second wind, for the body of Gryffindors rarely showedany sign of fatigue as they perched around the fire heated room, and talked avidly of possibilities far into morning.

Only once or twice could a student have been caught yawning, or rubbing gently at their heavy lidded eyes. They seemed not to feel effects of the early morning sleep disturbance.

Eventually Hermione's story made it's way around the room, and now whispers began to question what item indeed, Tom Riddle had received all those years ago. But this topic only remained of interest for so long. Soon the students became more interested in the possibilities of what item lay in store for one of _them_ to receive. Minds swelled with ideas, both reasonable and unimaginable, but onr thing was agreed upon. The item would be incredible.

Although the most important aspect of the message was not so often discussed - how one would were to unravel the riddles - the talk remained live and vivid. The glamor of the idea of possibly winning was enough the keep discussion rates high.

Hermione however, as usual, meant business. While Ron's mind wandered and explored various vain ideas, Hermione discussed lightly, with a rather uninterested Harry Potter, what Dumbledore's hint could mean. _'The best place to start is the beginning.'_ But they always got stuck at the same point.

The beginning of what?

Their minds had perused this topic for quite a white, but they always hit a brick wall.  
Quite plainly, they had no idea.

While the Gryffindors' minds realed, the pink in the sky turned to purple, and then to a transparent blue which was streaked in the yellow of the sun's beams. Morning time came with it's usual sounds and colors, and lit the Gryffindor common room. Beams of dust shone in amongst the student, and mixed matched furnishings.

Harry Potter now found himself forced and smashed into the Great Hall amongst the unbearably loud entiredry of his school. Discussion had dissembled up in the Gryffindor common room solely to cease the persistent rumbling sounds which emitted from each students stomachs at a not ignorable rate.

Two plates of eggs for Ron, and a biscuit a piece for Harry and Hermione later, the trio was joined by a crowd a welcomed faces. Fred, George, their friend Lee Jordan, Neville, Ginny, and Luna found their respective ways to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It was one of the twin's brilliant ideas to find a place more quite to discuss, which was all very well, because it quickly began apparent that most other students were more interested in the talk of this newly formed group then of their own. And so, together, each holding a piece of warm jam slathered toast, bee lined out of the Great Hall, into the quite of the hall outside the gleaming doors, and then outside even further into crisp day that waited.

**Again,**

**Comments are always greatly appreciated.**

**And I will more the gladly take any ideas that you may have regarding this story in particular, but also any other story that may be entertained in the future.**

**Thank you for reading.**

**Ashley Ann xx.**


	3. Adventure one

The group of nine friends gathered and huddled smack dab in the center of the Quidditch pitch. On most days, this would be one of the very last places to hold on hushed discussion, but it could be correctly assumed that there wouldn't be much practice conducted today. The statium was completely empty besides a few wild owls swooping here and there in search for field mice, or the like.

It was right chilly, so the crowd at detoured, and made a quick stop at both the Ravenclaw dorm – for Luna – and the Gyffindor dorm – for the rest – to gather as many layers of wool cloths as they could gather. The group resembled Eskimos in an almost hysterical sort way. It was Hermione's brilliant idea to use a heating charm to melt the thick layer of snow that had gathered on the groud, leaving a warm patch of newly reviled grass for them to set upon.

Discussion began rapidly.

"The beginning of what?" More than one student asked, in unison.

From this, a spoken list was formed.

"The Beginning of Hogwarts?"

"The four founders."

"The first ride on the Hogwarts Express?"

"The sorting ceremony?"

"The sorting hat."

"The entrance hall, perhaps?"

While this list went on, and on, growing more, and more, confusion and frustration began to arise.

"All right," said Harry, interrupting the frantic words. "Let us go and investigate a few of these ideas. We're not going to get anything done, sitting here, and freezing."

Since the red tips of each person's noses and ears could not be ignored, they began to disperse in groups of twos, and threes, to search for the beginning.

Fred, George, and Lee, traipsed away to 'search the grouds,' or perhaps more accurately, to try out their new invention; Ever-Changing Silent Fireworks, which were rumored to change shape and color at the wish of the igniter.

Harry, and Ron decided to go on a search for the Sorting Hat, which may prove difficult because it usually resided in Dumbledore's office. But they reasoned that if it were, indeed, intended to be a part of the game, then it would surly be accessible. While Hermione, rather predictably went off to the library.

Neville and Luna, not exactly sure of what to do, followed uselessly behind Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they stalked off towards to the castle.

Ginny, the only one left without a pair, had her own idea brewing in her mind, and therefore set off with purpose. She bypassed Neville, Luna, and the group they were following, and was the first to enter the castle. When she did, she stopped fast, causing Harry to bump softy into her. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Gleaming before them was the oddest sort of thing they'd encountered yet today. And that was saying something. What was most odd about it, was that at fist glance it appeared to be completely _Muggle._

"A ticket dispenser?" Intoned Hermione from behind, taking the words out of Harry's head, and erasing the confused looks from the two Weasley's faces.

Placed a few paces to the left of the door, directly in front of the Slytherin house point hourglass, was a black plastic box of about three feet high, completely smooth a blank, besides a ticket sized slot and a tiny round hole beside it.

"That hole looks about the proper size for a wand," said Ron, taking a few steps closer to it. He extracted his wand from his pocket and inserted it into the hole. A perfect fit. Then, quite suddenly, a female's voice spoke from the box. "Good morning, Ronald. You may speak your answer now."

"uhm, my answer?" Ron responded sheepishly.

"Haven't got one yet? That's fine. Come back when you have. Here's your wand."

Ron's wand extracted itself from the box, and flew into his waiting grip. He only stared.

"Well, that certainly does clear a few things up." Declared Hermione, as she headed swiftly away towards her obvious destination.

Ginny Weasley peered at the box for a only a few more moments, and then she ran off too, leaving the other four to stare in confusion for as long as they wished.

Ginny climbed flight of stairs, after flight of stairs, not stopping until she had reached the Fat Lady, she then mumbled the words, Pumkin Pasties, then dashed inside before the picture had even swung all the way forward. "In a bit of a hurry are we, dear?" The lady's voice spoke to her retreating form.

Under her bed, in her trunk was her Hogwarts acceptance letter.

Four years ago, when she had received the letter she had been so overjoyed that she had held onto to straight, for weeks. Taking it everywhere she went, like a pet. And then, when September First had come, she had shoved it into her truck along with her other belongings, so she could steal random peeks at it in the night.

She knew, even back then, when she was eleven, that it was a childish thing to do. But she didn't care, the letter filled her with such pride. And now she wondered…

She peeled back the blazing red seal, and began to read from the heavy parchment.

Dear Ms, Weasely,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September First.

Could it really be that simple? Heart racing she ran back past the Fat Lady, down the many, many stairs, and into the entrance hall. Her heart dropped, it was packed. Bodies floated here and there all around the black box. How could she ever test her theory without all of these people overhearing and discovering the answer. Her confidence faltering, she paced over towards the box, noticed that a small line had began to form leading away from the front of the thing, and took her place at the end. She hoped deep down that these people were only just now discovering the box at all, and not in line to already display their answers. After a short amount of time, she was right up next to the thing. She took a deep breath, and inserted her wand, watching it disappear within.

"Nice to see you, Ginerva. You may speak your answer now."

"Hear it goes," she whispered, mostly to herself.

"Oh, really? Well, well, you're a quick one. Dumbledore said not expect answer for at least a few more hours. Very well then." The box hummed, very violently for a second or two, and then a mostly transparent sort of field enclosed about a six by six patch of the room, holding Ginny and the box inside. Inside the space, everything was silent. It was a sort of magical sound proofing. Encouraged by this, Giinny spoke, "September First?"

"Don't phrase it as a question dear. Very lovely. Here's you second clue. Have a pleasant day."

Just then a lilac colored slip of paper, ringed with a silver and gold printed chain, shot itself from the ticket slot. Ginny caught it with grace, and the field dissolved.

**I love it when you read, but even more than that, **

**I love it when you review (;**

**Pleasant or rude, if you've got it, let me hear it.**


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